Little Lady, part 2

So, my new camera has no flash, and it was pretty dark. But I like how the pictures turned out.

Presley is ALL girl! Notice her ring and bracelet.


Getting it just right!



Happy 62nd birthday to Poppa!



You can see our stroller in the distance. Yeah, it smelled stunk like stale hibachi for several days...

Color-time!

To summarize what Presley has been doing....




The girl loves. to. color!!

My little big girl

Here's some of what me and Weegs have been doing.

Playing. (She carried a full 12pack of diet coke from the kitchen to put under her grocery cart like we do at the grocery store.)




Puzzles.



A little park action. (She picked out her shirt, bow, and shoes this day.)



More puzzles.




Errands. (In Sister's car seat, of course!)




And even more puzzles!




One thing I haven't taken a picture of her doing is watching tv. She's weaning nicely. She gets a fix in the morning and another in the late afternoon.

Both girls have been horrible at getting in our bed in the wee hours every single night. Some nights before I've even fallen asleep. We've been letting them sleep with us on the weekends since P started kindergarten. They love to and I'm sure the reason we let them has to do with all the nostalgia I mentioned a few days ago. That's the only thing that makes good sense. Because four folks (and one big o' pregnancy pillow) in one bed sure the hell doesn't! Anyway, my point is this is how Teagan was sleeping the other morning when I got up.




In a pregnancy pillow cocoon!

She starts back to preschool tomorrow. Hopefully she'll do well with the drop off! That's the hardest part for her. Her teachers were awesome with her on Tuesday so I'm sure she'll be fine!

My babies

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. These two have a close bond. They've slept in the same bed since they were 3.5 and 2 years old and we have no plans of separating them anytime soon. Most nights it takes them a while to stop talking/fighting/playing/requesting things and actually go to sleep. One particular night they were talking and it was taking a while and Price went to go listen at the door and he heard.

T: I'm scared, Sister.
P: I'll hold you, Teags.

My babies!!! I don't know why I'm feeling so nostalgic right now. Maybe because Temple will be here in five weeks (or before), Presley's in big school now, and I've had a lot of one-on-one time with Teagan in the last two weeks and have just marveled at what a big girl she is!

This may be no big deal, but she can do major, 100 piece puzzles like a champ! That's big around our house.



I've missed this sleepy-headed, too-talkative-for-the-morning child over the last two weeks.


I've missed leisure mornings all together! They start off with a bang (or an alarm) and don't stop! All day! On one hand it's nice to start the day early and get going. But it's also nice to have nowhere to go and nothing to do! That's the lazy in me!

So speaking of my babies. This summer we went to the beach with Price's family and we snuck some pictures in one evening. This is just one of me and Price showing the (much smaller) baby bump, aka lil Temp.



I need to still edit the other ones of the girls with their cousins. So cute! Will share soon. There was some really sweet ones!

Texas fall y'all!

It's not fall yet, but today was gorgeous!! Oh my word! We started the day with the labor day parade in Garland. Price and I enjoyed it more than the girls. Then went to lunch at a vegan pho place that had this right outside.



We thought it was ironic.

Then we decided to head back towards home with lawn care in our future. Until!! And thank goodness! We saw some people fishing in the dried up lakes on the way home. So we moseyed over to walmart grabbed some kiddie poles and went to the park. It was like a scene from a movie. People were out flying kites, playing soccer, riding bikes. They were smiling and having fun! It just felt good!





I wasn't much help with the fishing. First, because the stink bait was STAAAANK-KAY! And secondly because I was too busy regretting we brought this fella.



He was a handful as usual. We finally made our way to the dog park and playground. Hit up some snow cones on the way home and called it a day. I had even forgotten it was a school night until it was about 6 o'clock.

Back to the grindstone tomorrow. Presley said, "I think I'm not going to feel good tomorrow." Nothing a little pep talk about her friends and the playground can't cure, I'm sure!

Thank you, Lord for a beautiful day!

One week down!

It's official!




We officially sent Presley to big girl school for an entire week! Nary a tardy. Nary a tear. Well... maybe a couple of tears, or "misty eyes" as Price calls it, from me and Price, but she marched herself into that classroom like she owned the place and never looked back. We were waiting. Well she finally did...we were still waiting.

So after we all went to pick her up, we came back to have a piece of cake we made the night before and talk all about her first day. I got this idea from my friend, Laura. She actually writes their name on it and grade. Our's was lucky to have icing! Just like with pre-K, she was pretty tight-lipped about her day. But we got a few details. Specifically about her boy friend who had spiky hair. I heard it 'boy friend', Price heard it 'boyfriend'. But the next day she came home talking about a break up, so maybe Price heard right... I try to ignore things like that. Anyway, she said her favorite part of the day is recess. Whose isn't? We've learned a few friends names throughout the week. One day she came home adamant about going to her new friends house for a playdate, but couldn't remember her name. She actually got mad because I wouldn't take her. I tried to explain that we didn't know where she lived or even her name, even though Presley said her address was "978". Still not helpful!!

And every cake needs it's sidekick! Ice cream! Teagan can fish that gallon out of the freezer and get the ice cream scooper out of the drawer she can barely see over lickedy split!

Speaking of which, she's my new solo daytime sidekick. She's been enjoying puzzles and errands (she likes to always ride in Presley's car seat when Presley's not there). We have had a little adjustment as she misses her playmate, but we've spent time with her cousins too!

Thank you!

This year I decided to let (make) Presley write her own thank you notes after her birthday. When we started, I did not realize what a daunting task it would be. We still have five more to write, so if you haven't gotten yours, it's coming! It's been a good lesson for all of us (patience) and a great mid-summer review of her letters. Not to mention really slowing down to see and appreciate what her friends got her!






Here are just some of the things Presley said before, during, and after our card writing sessions.

"I wrote that with my eyes closed.
I need a break.



Who's name is the shortest?
I need to stretch.
I'm tired!!!


How many more?



I just want to write 'Pres'.
It's cold.
What's Victoria's favorite color?(to write that one in that color)
Can Teagan have a turn?
How do you write an R again? (when I know she knows that one!)"

She was surprisingly A.D.D. and really sought out to cut corners. That apple fell straight off Price's tree!

Price was no better, I tried to get him to take a turn helping her and he basically guided her hand for each letter. Uh no!

Some looked pretty rough! Some were pretty good. I wrote a little note on the back myself too!

We'll see how next year's go!

My big girl

My eldest is now five! FIVE years old!! I STILL am having a hard time believing it! She's quick to remind me though, and whomever we meet, that it is true! She really feels like a big girl, and rightfully so!


We had a waterballoon party, per her request, at the spray park. Of course I feel like I didn't take enough pictures or talk enough with each of the guests. But overall, I think it was a successful celebration!


Here are the invites! They turned out super cute!

I was a little hesitant to put this on the back (per Price's request), but I went against my better judgement and humored him. :)

This is Presley's friend from school. They have the same name. Aren't they just cute!

FINALLY it was time for the waterballoons! There were moments of frenzy. As Price and I were filling them all up, we were thinking about how long it would take the kids to tear through them. I'm glad to report it was more than 30 seconds! The bruise on my finger and the blister on Price's finger was totally worth it!




Before they began, I had to give the motherly rules, "don't throw it at any one's face, aim for the feet, we're all friends, play nicely, GO!!"

But uh, clearly someone wasn't listening. Not sure whom she was aiming for... but she was serious!!

We are still working on our thank you cards. I'm letting Presley help me this year (to work on her thankfulness and her writing). The rest of the day, Presley kept saying it was the "best birthday party ever!"

Ragsland

Presley got to model some clothing for the spring catalog for Ragsland.

She's on page 41 and 50. It was fun and they did her hair so cute!




I've tried to do it like that ever since, but haven't been able to!

And recently, Presley cut her own hair! It's not as bad as it could have been. She got grounded from candy for a week, which she handled pretty well.

First day of school Pre-Kindergarten

Just downloaded these pictures on my computer! I've been bad about relying on my phone's camera!

Here's Pres all ready for her first day of school. I wish I could say that she's loving it and things are great, but the last couple of weeks, she's been throwing major fits about not wanting to go to school - at home and during the drop off at the room. And pretty much I've left upset every time too (and embarrassed - that she threw a major fit and that I can't hold it together, even though I did until after she couldn't see me). :( It's just not like her. It happened slightly last year when the newness of school wore off. But NOT like this year! Her teachers say she calms down after a couple minutes and then has a great day. The only thing she's said is that she doesn't want to go because she doesn't know her letters. Which she does know a lot more than she gives herself credit for knowing. I've talk with the director and some friends, and here's what we've come up with:

• she doesn't want to miss what me and Teagan are doing
• being firstborn, they tend to be perfectionists and if they can't do something they don't even want to try
• she's one of the younger ones in the class
• most of the kids in her class have moved up together the last three years (only three kids are in her class from last year out of 18)

We've been working on her letters more at home. She's actually more interested lately, so that's good! And I may have bribed her with a special surprise if she has a good morning tomorrow.

At least she was happy and excited for the first day! Although when we rounded that corner and she saw a hallway of moms and kids, her excitement and confidence waned. And then again when it was time to go through the doorway. Broke my heart to see her like that. This is the child that wants give every kid at the water park one of her silly bands. The child doesn't know a stranger. So I had to cry a little that day too! What's wrong with me??

Sporting a new and bigger backpack this year!

Getting her ready for school is another story! She turns into a pre-Madonna and is very opinionated for a four year old. I don't remember being like that. EVER!

Christmas in August

Presley found this dress-up dress in the closet the other day and wanted to put it on. We might have to revisit this come December!

Too cute

Price downloaded some of his old iphone pics on my computer and I was just looking through them and found the cutest thing. When I was pregnant with Teagan, Presley would love to put her head on my tummy, but always wanted my shirt up.

That is a lot of belly! And that child LOVED her paci!! And I loved this one of Price and Presley snuggled up. They were on the very edge of the bed, and I wasn't complainin'!

I've had a little of the writer's block each time I've sat down to blog about Presley turning four. So instead of writing about her, I thought I'd post pictures of when she was little over the last four years, but there were too many pictures to weed through for that child. So I thought I would post some pictures of what she's been into lately.

She loves to swing. She likes to go "higher, faster". This is a homemade swing at Honey and Poppa's house that the girls loved, so Poppa made one for our house!

All a girl wants is some boobs for her fourth birthday. She is allllll girl, this child. If it's not balloons filled with water, it's toilet paper stuffed in her shirt.

She loves to take pictures. She took this one of Weegs. I love everything about it! She really captured Teagan and I'm loving the composition. We'll have to work on the focus a bit!

If she's not changing clothes five hundred times a day, she's expecting. She told me she had "ten babies in her belly." And she asks for a baby brother almost every day! Each time, I send her to tell her father! (He's the one holding us up!)

Last but not least, she loves LOVES her sister, little Talalula, or sometimes just Tally.

She's also into tatoos and stamps, which I think she thinks is the same thing. She wanted me to put a tatoo left over from her birthday treat bags on her. She wanted it on her shoulder blade...